Gene Burns, co-author of “52 Homes in 52 Weeks,” in a Carlsbad development with a city zoning map in hand. After scooping up distressed properties in Las Vegas, Burns says he's poised to invest in houses along the north San Diego County coast that he expects will be affected by a coming real estate downturn.

Nico Calavita, a public administration professor at both San Diego State and the University of California San Diego, had a sobering message in his recent address to this year's crop of UCSD urban studies students: “Beware the real world outside.”